I learned the other day that the Maharam of Rotenberg said that there is no obligation whatsoever to wear Tefillin on Tisha Bav. Perhaps these people hold similarly (to some extent). Also, could someone please source where the Bet HaLevi says this?
– Adam MoshehJul 30 '12 at 15:18

@DoubleAA I heard today that it was the Brisker Rov who said there is no mitzvah min haTorah to put on tefillin every day. I'm still curious to know where that is then and if it exists. Someone said R' Moshe Shternbach brings in down in a Teshuva.
– YehoshuaApr 19 '15 at 9:15

2 Answers
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I always understood that they mean to say that the mitzva is to have them on always and there is no difference if you wear it for 1 hour today and 1 hour tomorrow or two hours today and none tomorrow. Each second is its own individual mitzva independent of what day it is on. It is actually kind of hard to justify why each date should matter.

I can't see any reason to say that logic doesn't make sense. Interesting, there is a Gemara (Rosh Hashana 16 or 17) that says "a skull that Tefilin were never placed on it is called 'poshe yisrael begufam'." I think the Gr"a used a different Girsa- "a skull that tefilin weren't placed on it for one day are called 'poshe etc."'.
– Hacham GabrielJan 24 '12 at 23:50

@HachamGabriel It's RH 17a. Either one of those girsaot is fine for our purposes.
– Double AA♦Jan 24 '12 at 23:58

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I thought this Peri Megadim means that if you don't wear Tefilin one day there is no Isur. However, I think the Gra's girsa contradicts that.
– Hacham GabrielJan 25 '12 at 0:40

@HachamGabriel Ah I had read it as "for at least one day" but I see where you are coming from. Can you find the original hebrew version? I don't see it on the daf. That may help us sort this out.
– Double AA♦Jan 25 '12 at 0:51

Rabbeinu Yonah (Iggeres Teshuva Ois 24) writes that one who doesn’t wear tefillin has close to 300 עונשים yearly (excluding Shabbos and Yom Tov etc.), which sounds like one transgresses the commandment for each day one doesn't wear Tefillin.

(See Tosfos [Menachos 35b], where a disagreement is presented as to whether one must tie the tefillin daily.)

The Brisker Rav — quoted by Reb Moshe Shternbuch תשובות והנהגות ח”א סי’ מ”ט, ח”ב סי’ ל, ח”ג סי’ י”א — held that the obligation is all day, and that there is nothing different about today than tomorrow. Therefore, not wearing it for a whole day does not constitute a greater deal of bitul (nullification of the commandment) than not wearing it for an hour. See also Moadim Vezmanim.